A cabinet minister has said that those living near onshore wind farms should have their energy bills slashed. Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi suggested that the UK should look at how other countries provide power to local communities as part of its own plans.
Speaking on Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, Mr Zahawi pointed out that other nations offer those living near nuclear power stations free energy. He said: “I would say that if we are going to make sure that we carry the will of local people, whether it’s onshore wind or nuclear, we have to learn from how it’s done well in other countries.
“The way you do that is to make sure the local community has a real say. But also we’ve seen great examples of other people where if they build a nuclear power station, within a certain radius of that power station they get free power. So it’s right to look at innovation to make sure we wean ourselves off hydrocarbons, we have to do that, we have to do that well, part of that is making sure we look after the will of the local people.”
Mr Zahawi suggested that he supported more onshore wind farms being built. However, he added that they would need to be backed by local people.
However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has argued that investing in domestic nuclear and renewable energy is the key to establishing a standalone energy policy. It comes as the UK attempts to move away from its dependence on Russian oil and gas supplies, following its invasion of Ukraine.
